Abstract
The present chapter discusses works in the Euclidean tradition written by prominent figures in British mathematics. It focuses on the way they handle results related with Book II. Works analyzed include Robert Recorde’s Pathway to Knowledge, the first two English translations of the Elements, one by the highly influential Henry Billingsley (1570), and another one by Thomas Rudd (1651); two remarkable books published in 1631, Clavis Mathematicae by William Oughtred and Artis Analyticae Praxis by Thomas Harriot, both marking the beginning of an increased interest in symbolic algebraic methods in the British context; and the contributions of John Wallis and Isaac Barrow, who espoused opposing and complementary views about the relative primacy of arithmetic and geometry in mathematical discourse.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology |
| Publisher | Springer Nature |
| Pages | 13-48 |
| Number of pages | 36 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Publication series
| Name | SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology |
|---|---|
| ISSN (Print) | 2211-4564 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2211-4572 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Keywords
- British mathematics
- Early algebraic symbolism
- Euclidean tradition
- Euclid’s Book II
- Euclid’s Elements
- François Viète
- Henry Billingsley
- Isaac Barrow
- John Wallis
- Renaissance mathematics
- Robert Recorde
- Thomas Harriot
- Thomas Rudd
- William Oughtred